County: Wexford Site name: Coolhull Castle, Coolhull
Sites and Monuments Record No.: WX046-028 Licence number: E005086
Author: Dave Pollock
Site type: Fortified house
Period/Dating: Post Medieval (AD 1600-AD 1750)
ITM: E 688480m, N 609950m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.234172, -6.704640
Three test trenches had been cut by machine at Coolhull Castle over 2 days in September 2019, ahead of proposed landscaping works. The site appeared to be badly truncated, with remains of an open drain but no sign of early surfacing or enclosures.
Landscaping and drainage works were carried out at Coolhull Castle in 2021, to improve the visitor experience of the monument. The works included the removal of concrete slab and hardcore yard surfaces, and inserting land drains. Subsoil was exposed over almost half of the site, but little of archaeological interest was revealed. Three abraded sherds of likely Leinster cookingware were recovered from an area of puddled marl (121) and suggest medieval settlement in the vicinity but off site. Two linear ditches (141, 142) are probably associated with the early years of the present castle, but no clear enclosure pattern was revealed. The surface of the 19th-century farmyard, on the north side of the castle, was not truncated during the works, and was only partly exposed.
In early December a number of trees were planted under archaeological supervision; nothing of interest came to light.
Archaeografix, Knockrower Road, Stradbally, Co. Waterford. X42PA48
